The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is taking action to address the spread of misinformation regarding the war between Israel and Hamas. X is working diligently to combat posts containing graphic media, violent speech, and hateful conduct related to the conflict.
While X claims to be responding to the crisis at the highest level, outside watchdog groups and the European Union’s digital policy chief have expressed concerns about the prevalence of misinformation on the platform, which was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk last year.
According to EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, the misinformation on X includes fake and manipulated imagery, such as repurposed old images from unrelated armed conflicts or military footage from video games. Breton warned Musk that authorities have flagged potentially illegal content and urged X to be timely, diligent, and objective in removing it when necessary.
In response to Breton’s letter, X’s safety team stated that there has been an increase in daily active users discussing the conflict and more than 50 million posts globally focusing on the recent terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. X has formed a cross-company leadership group to address this crisis.
X allows users to help rate potentially misleading information, but the posts are not removed from the platform and instead contain a note of context. However, this policy has faced criticism for potentially perpetuating misinformation.
Further concerns regarding the credibility of news sources covering the war were raised when Musk recommended two accounts to follow for real-time updates. One of these accounts was criticized as spreading fake AI-generated images and antisemitic comments. Musk later deleted his post.
Analyst Emerson Brooking of the Atlantic Council accused Musk of enabling fake war reporting by removing the blue check verification system for trusted accounts. Brooking argued that Musk’s platform design decisions have undermined the notion of objective media.
The drastic changes implemented by Musk over the past year, including staff layoffs responsible for moderating toxic content and harmful misinformation, have also reportedly hindered X’s ability to take action on violating posts.
X recently changed one policy to allow users to more easily choose whether or not to see sensitive media without removing the posts. X states that it believes it is in the public’s interest to understand real-time events related to the conflict.
The company is also working to remove newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts and collaborating with other tech companies to prevent the distribution of terrorist content online. Additionally, X is actively monitoring for antisemitic speech and has taken action against accounts attempting to manipulate trending topics.
Linda Yaccarino, a top executive at X, withdrew from an upcoming tech conference to focus on how the platform is handling the war.
With the ongoing global crisis, X recognizes the importance of ensuring platform safety amidst the conflict.
Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.
